18 June 1944

By Audrey Humleker

At 8.50am on 18 June 1944 a V1 flying bomb hit Carey Mansions on Rutherford Street, at the north eastern corner of Vincent Square SW1. This was the first V1 incident suffered by the City of Westminster.

The explosion created a large plume of smoke and set off a serious fire. Destruction was widespread between Maunsel Street, Rutherford Street and Elverton Street. Major damage was caused to Carey Mansions and Nos 4-10 Regency Street (then in use by the Admiralty Photographic Department).

The blast wave also shattered windows in the Royal Oak Pub (1872), damaged Penny’s Café in Regency Place (with reports of exposed and contaminated food), Vincent Pharmacy (with reports of exposed dangerous drugs), Wands Sweet Shop and the Premier Laundry (piles of laundry were blown out and scattered widely).

Heavy and Light Rescue teams and NFS fire pumps were dispatched to the scene. An ARP message at 9.30am requested morphia for seriously injured casualties. Subsequent messages indicated that the fire had been extinguished but at 9.40am a second bomb report suggested a UXB (Unexploded Bomb) lying in Vincent Square (playing fields belonging to Westminster School).

By 10.30am ARP wardens had identified this as a piece of electrical equipment from a 'P.A.C'. (Pilotless Aircraft or V1).The casing and parts of the detonator were also later recovered. They were removed by police, with the assistance of RAF officers, for detailed examination by military scientists. In this first week of the V1 campaign the British authorities were understandably keen to determine the exact composition of the new weapons now falling to such destructive effect on London.

A situation report for 9am from the cleanup site on Rutherford Street indicated 91 casualties, with 8 known deaths, only 5 of which had been identified. Two missing persons were also reported in addition to unidentified body parts. Mortuary vans and ambulances arrived to care for the wounded and to remove bodies from a temporary mortuary set up on Rutherford Street. American servicemen also reportedly assisted at the scene.

No further information concerning the two missing individuals was available. At 4.59pm the ARP noted that: "other persons not definitely accounted for. Police cannot contact one, never slept in flat and refused information for census. Other person away a good deal in Worthing".

Final reports confirmed 10 killed and 62 injured. Carey Mansions and the rest of the western side of Rutherford Street were completely rebuilt after the war.